Couples, Complacency, and Commitment
by Fallen Ark Angel
Summary: Because everyone in every relationship ever has to come to the decision to either work it out or end it. Even Max and Fang. - Post-Nevermore one-shot.


Couples, Complacency, and Commitment

"Do you think we've changed?"

Fang took a moment, laying there on his back, staring up at the blackness above them. Then, slowly, he responded with a question of his own.

"In what ways?"

Max rolled onto her side then, so that she was facing him. "We never, like, hangout anymore."

"You're busy," he said, shrugging as best he could, lying on his back and all. "And I work around the island. And, you know, I've taken up recreational drug use."

Max blinked. "Have you?"

"Have you not noticed?"

He turned to look at her and they both just took a moment to stare one another in the eyes. Then Max broke off in a laugh and Fang looked back up at the sky, feeling that his mission was accomplished.

Or at least it was for a moment. Then Max had to go and start talking again.

"We don't do anything with each other anymore. We don't even eat dinner together."

"We have sex together."

"Fang."

"We do. Or, well, sometimes I masturbate alone, so I guess that counts as not together, but-"

"Shut up. Seriously. Anyone can hear us."

This was true to some extent, as for once they weren't spending the night in the treehouse they had rebuilt together, as it was too hot. Instead they were both lounging on the deck of their treehouse, as even the windows inside weren't enough to get a draft in when there wasn't one. It had been mighty hot the past few days. Not even any wind.

"I don't care. I have sex with my girl. I love my girl. And I love masturbating when she's off the island, taking care of business." He let out a long breath, rubbing his chest. "We're close, Max."

"I'm not saying we're not close, Fang. I'm saying that we don't do things together."

"What things?"

"I don't know. Couple things."

"Ugh. I don't like those anyways."

"You don't do them because you like them."

"You don't?"

"No," she said with a tone that let him know she thought he was stupid for questioning her. Then again, she always thought that he was stupid. "You do them because that's what we are. A couple. Therefore, we do couple things."

He let out a long sigh. "What do you want to do then, Max? What things don't we do anymore?"

"Stay up and talk all night about silly things, cuddle, hold hands-"

"Then let's talk. Start there, yeah?" Fang let out a slow breath. "Or we can take up recreational drug use together."

"What is with you and talking about that today?"

Still, he only stared up at the sky. "You wanna talk, Max?"

"Yeah, I do."

"Then let's talk. For real." He let out a long breath. "What do you want to talk about, baby? You choose. I ain't tired anyways."

She moved closer to him then slightly and Fang, fed up with her games, just finally turned onto his side as well and pulled her to him, snuggling the way she had wanted all along. Max kissed his clothed chest then before falling silent for a moment.

"Well," she began when she started to speak again. "Angel kind of, sort of yelled at me today."

"Really?" Fang asked, trying to keep his non-interest to a low. The conversations he liked best were nonexistent. Second best were the ones where he got Max to more or less just talk without needing any kind of assistance from him.

"Yeah," Max said, pressing a hand against his chest. "She was all upset at me for, you know, saying what I did."

No. Fang had no idea what she was talking about. At all. God, like her life is so important that he remembers trivial facts about it. Yeah right.

"Yeah," he agreed, like a good boyfriend. 'cause that's what he was at the end of the day. A good boyfriend.

"Which is totally unfair, you know? I mean, it's not like I mandate that they can't disagree with me. Because I don't."

Yes, she did. She totally did. Fang knew that much about his girlfriend. God, he'd known that about Max since they were children. Even in the School, she was insistent that everyone shared the same view as her on everything.

"I mean, God," Max went on, taking on that valley girl tone she had formed recently. Fang found that it had sprung up when she had begun to get…_friends_ on the island. Ugh. "I'm not, like, a dictator or anything."

"Well," Fang said slowly. "We did necessarily vote you in. I mean, we don't really vote on anything. It's kind of what you say goes. So maybe dictator isn't the right word, because it wasn't a forceful thing, but you're totally at the very least a monarch or something."

Max blinked. "You are not serious."

"Okay," Fang easily retreated. "I'm not serious."

"No, no, if you really think that fine."

"Okay, then I am serious."

"But you're totally completely, like, just plain out wrong."

See?

"Okay then."

"No, Fang, not okay then. Because I'm not a monarch or whatever. I was chosen leader-"

"Not by anyone on the island. By your parents or the other whitecoats or whatever."

"That is not true at all."

"That is completely true."

"Oh, what do you know?"

"Not much," he admitted.

"Then why don't you, gee, shut the heck up?"

Fang groaned as she rolled away from him, giving him her back to stare at. "See, Max? This is why we don't talk."

"No, this is why you don't give your stupid opinion."

"See, that sounds an awful lot like someone that's controlling someone else."

"You shut up. You're opinion doesn't matter because you're too stupid to come to a conclusion on your own."

"Well, that's just mean."

"You're mean. You basically just told me-"

"I didn't say that any of it was a bad thing. Did I? No. No one cares that there was no vote to bring you in, Max. I think that you've done a damn fine job with the island. I just don't think that it would be accurate to say that you're not, like, a dictator or queen or ruler or empress or something."

"You're, like, so stupid that it's not even, like, funny."

"I, like, so totally, like, am?"

"Shut up, Fang," she retorted, only getting more annoyed by the moment. Fang was really regretting ever saying anything to begin with. But it did piss him off at times when Max called him stupid or something like that. It beyond annoyed him. He wasn't stupid and he didn't like to be treated like he was. "I mean, even if they did hold a vote, I would win so why does it matter?"

"What makes you so sure of that?"

"I mean, God, Fang, who would run against me?"

"…Me."

"You," Max said dryly, as if unimpressed.

"Yes, me. And I would beat you."

"That is such bull."

"Is not."

"In what world would you-"

"I got an army of people together, Max, that time in, where was it, Germany? Remember? Just from blog posts alone. So-"

"You got an army of eleven and twelve year old girls to come because they thought you were hot. What do you want? A medal? You stupid pedo."

"What the hell? How does that make me-"

"You know how."

He glared at her back then. "It was not just girls."

"It was mainly girls."

"You are so-"

"You're blog is a stupid example anyways. I mean, God, Fang, you have horrible leadership skills anyways."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah."

"And you're so great?"

"Well, I mean, gee, no one's ever died on my watch."

He sat up quickly at that one and he saw her freeze, knowing that she had crossed the line. Fang sat there for a moment, glaring at her before responding.

"Yeah, except your brother. What is it now? Three times?"

It was Max's turn to jump up. She glared at him before opening her wings.

"This, Fang, is why I don't talk to you. You're, like, the dumbest-"

"I didn't want to fucking talk to begin with!"

She left him then, which was honestly for the better. How freaking dare she say something like that? And then get mad at him for what he said? Yeah right. Yeah, freaking, right.

* * *

"Where'd you sleep last night?"

"Like you care."

Fang rolled his eyes, continuing to get dressed for the day. When Max had come into the treehouse, he thought it was with making up on the brain. Apparently not though. Whatever. He was just as good with never making up with her. Or maybe they could go back to what they were before, where they never talked and only had sex together. That was just as good to him. What Max wanted to talk about rarely interested him anymore.

"You need to go take a bath, stupid, in the ocean," Max complained when she saw Fang just putting on his clean clothes. "You sweated in the night, after how hot and humid it was. That's disgusting. Go bathe."

"You go bathe."

"Excuse me?"

Fang glanced over at her as she began to get dressed herself. Her hair was wet as she had no doubt taken a bath herself.

"What's up with you telling me what to do all the time?" he asked. "Huh?"

"Are you serious right now?"

"Yes, Max."

"You know, Fang, you've been really intolerable recently."

"You-"

"Oh, I'm sorry. Is intolerable too big a word for you?"

"You wanna no what's been intolerable, Max? You freaking treating me like I'm stupid. I'm not stupid. At all. You might be smarter than me, fine, but not by much. Because last time I checked, leader, the world still ended on your watch. You get that right? Just because you freaking survived doesn't mean shit. You failed just like me, so why don't you try shutting up sometimes, huh?"

"Me? What about you, Fang? How about speaking up sometimes? Huh? You think I'm such a bad leader, right? That's what you said last night and just right now? Then where the hell have you been for the past two years? Just bumbling along beside me?"

"When did I have the time to tell you that you suck, Max? Huh? Not to mention, I haven't exactly hidden my feelings our entire life. Before the island, how many times did I leave your little group because you made piss-poor decisions? Huh?"

"My decisions? Right, whatever. You know, Fang, for someone that can hardly spell, you sure do-"

"There you go again!" He literally turned to point a finger at her. "Calling me stupid. When the hell did that start, Max? Huh? When did I suddenly become stupid?"

"You've always been stupid, stupid."

"Because I'm pretty sure you're about as smart as me."

"Oh, whatever. You're way dumber than me."

"Bull. You're dumber."

"Spell dumber, Fang."

"D-U-M-M-E-R."

"My point proven."

"What?"

"There's a B in dumber, stupid."

He gave her a look. "There is not. In what way would there ever be a-"

"There is."

"Don't lie just to feel better about yourself, Max."

"Oh, is that what you think I'm doing? Because it's not. Face it. You're stupid."

"If I'm stupid, why are you with me then? Huh? If I'm just so stupid-"

"I don't even know anymore. Because I don't like you anymore. At all."

"Oh, bullshit, Max. You don't like me anymore?"

"No, I don't."

"What-"

"You don't listen to me, you never take any of my problems seriously, you only want to have sex, you never-"

"You don't listen to me!"

"I don't listen to you," she repeated back slowly, giving him a hard glare. "In what world-"

"This one."

"How can I listen to someone who doesn't ever say anything, Fang?"

"You never let me say anything."

"That is so-"

"See what I mean? You always dismiss what I'm saying. Guess what, Max? I don't like the fact that you let Jeb live on the island with us. I think it's foolish. I don't like the way you've been handling the trade agreements. I think you're way too pushy. I don't like that mandate that you made about how we can no longer chop down trees at our leisure. You're making it harder on the working people. We're trying to build-"

"Shut up, Fang. You have no idea what you're talking about."

"See what I mean? I have very real points and you just-"

"Oh, you have points? Well, here are some points about you, Fang." She looked really pissed in that moment, but he couldn't blame her because he was just as upset. "You're not considerate anymore. You're not nice to me when we're around your friends. You won't even hangout with me and my friends-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. I can give examples to my points. You're just spouting off nonsense."

"Oh, really? Was it considerate when you didn't show up for our date last week and then gave me this lame excuse about forgetting?"

"I did forget. I was playing cards with-"

"Ooh, or how about that time I tried to play soccer with you and your friends on the beach."

"Max, you sucked ass. I was only-"

"You called me stupid and started cursing at me when I _accidentally_ kicked the ball into the wrong team's goal."

"Because that was a stupid thing to do!"

"Well, sorry, Fang, for trying to spend time with you. You know, we never do that anymore."

"What do you call right now?"

"Getting ready to break up is what I call this."

He let out a breath then, glaring at her. "You do stuff to me too, Max. You know that you do. You don't even try to look nice for me anymore."

"Oh, I don't?"

"You don't. You used to, like, comb your hair all the time and keep your clothes nice and clean-"

"What about you, Fang?"

"What about me?" He patted his chest. "I'm still as hot and sexy as I've ever been."

She rolled her eyes heavily. "You're not romantic anymore."

"What? I-"

"You fart around me, like, constantly. You don't even use deodorant. You-"

"Uh, gee, Max, because I traded my last stick for more condoms. I'm sorry that I don't want to bring a baby into this fucked up relationship."

"And another thing. I'm so tired of having sex with you that it's not even funny."

"What?"

Max shrugged, crossing her arms as she looked off. "I don't like it. You suck at it."

"Oh, like you're so great at sex."

"Excuse you?"

"No, Max, _excuse you_. You're over here acting all high and mighty, well, guess what? You have gained weight since we got on this island and it is not attractive. I mean, honestly, sometimes I don't even feel like looking at you. You- Hey!"

She had picked up the nearest thing to her and threw it. It just so happened to be a book, which hit him squarely in the chest.

"Shut up, Fang! My fucking God, if you don't want to be with me anymore then just say so!"

"I never said that I didn't want to, Max! You were the one coming in here with an attitude and then saying that I'm bad at sex. Let me just go ahead and tell you that I could sleep with a lot more people than you could. But I don't. Because I try to stay faithful to you. But if you're going to sit here and insult me, then forget it. See how many friends you have when I'm fucking all of them."

She moved to throw something at him again, but instead just turned away from him. Fang stood there then, breathing heavily while watching her.

"So what, then, Max? You're going to start crying again? You always do that. You always fucking do that! You always start crying so that I feel bad for you. Well, you know what? This time I don't. You wanted to fight. You picked and picked and guess what? You found one."

She still had her back to him and didn't look like she was going to respond. Fang just stood there for awhile, his noisy breaths the only sound heard in the treehouse. He knew that if one of them was going to fix what had happened, it would have to be him. Fang had a massive amount of pride, but Max had more. She would never apologize unless he did so first.

Slowly, Fang walked over to her, though he didn't touch her.

"Look," he said to her back. "You know as well as I do that I would never fuck your friends so if that's what you're-"

"I don't care."

"Max-"

"I don't want to talk anymore, Fang, so please just-"

"No." He reached out to grab her arm, but she jerked away from him. "Look at me, Max."

"Why should I? So you can tell me how much weight I've gained? About how much I don't try anymore? Well, guess what, Fang? I didn't come to this island to be your little sex doll."

"That's not-"

"Fine, Fang, you work out a lot. You take better care of yourself than me. Whatever. What do you want? A medal?"

Well actually…

"Max, we were fighting. I-"

"You knew what you would say would hurt me and you said it anyways," she accused, turning to look at him.

"Well, yeah, that's what fighting's about, Max."

"You're so-"

"Stupid. I know." He looked her in the eyes. "You wanna hug it out?"

"No, idiot."

"Oh." Well, he was out of options. Huh. "Well, then what do you want? For me to apologize? Because I'm sorry. You're not fat, Max. You were extremely underweight before, considering our life style. And I think you're very sexy right now and-"

"Go to hell." She pushed him then before walking around him and out onto the deck of their treehouse. Fang made a face, quickly pulling on a pair of jeans before rushing after her.

"Max-"

"No, Fang."

"Don't say no to me when you don't know what I'm about to say." He went to grab her arm and this time she let him. Holding her in place, he said, "I'm sorry. I really am. I said some really bad things. Really bad. Can you forgive me?"

She shook him off again before turning to face him once more. It was just as hot as it was the day before and it felt even hotter out there on the deck. God, she just wanted to get down into the labs. It was always cool in the caves.

"I think, Fang, that right now we just need-"

"Don't say break. Please don't say that. Or time apart or whatever. Because I'm really not cool with that."

"What do you think we need then, Fang? We're either fighting or not talking at all."

"Or having sex."

She gave him a look. "That's not a good relationship, Fang. At all."

"Then I'll…I'll figure it out, okay? What were those things you said you wanted me to do? Be more romantic? I can do that. I most definitely can do that. And I will never curse at you in front of my friends again. Ever. And farting? Nope, not again. I will die from not defecating before I fart in front of you again. And hanging out with your friends? Sure. Let's-"

"God, after you said that you wanted to sleep with them? No, Fang, I don't want you to hangout with them anymore."

"Even better," he assured her.

Rolling her eyes heavily, Max said, "Fang, we've become too complacent with each other."

"…Would you call me stupid if I said-"

"We're too content. Too used to each other. We're just coexisting."

"I thought that that was a good thing?"

"Not in this case it's not."

Fang growled slightly. "Well, I've just offered up to do all these things that I don't want to do, Max. What else do you want me to do? Because I am not taking a break. I-"

"All it means, Fang, is that we won't spend so much time with one another. We-"

"No! I don't like that plan. At all."

"Fang, it's just what people do. You have to-"

"You're mine, Max." He took a step closer. "We promised. And that means no breaks. If we're having issues, fine, let's work them out. But this break bull is just a chance for you to flirt with other guys without feeling bad and I'm not cool with that. At all. I am very possessive. And so help me God, if I even see you around Dylan today-"

"Take a freaking breath. God."

He did, but it didn't help anything. "I don't want to break up."

"That's not what a break is."

"Really? Because there's only two words in break up and one of them matches the word in break."

"…What?"

Fang shook his head. "So what then, Max? Just because of one fight you want to-"

"It's not just one fight, Fang. It's everything."

"Then we'll fix everything."

"You can't fix everything!"

"How would you know? If you haven't even tried yet? Huh?" He gave her his best sad face, which was saying something as he was rare to implement such an emotion. "Basically all you're saying is that we don't hangout anymore, right? Then fine. Let's hangout. Like we used to. Let's go…uh…let's…go kick around the soccer ball. Or go flying together. Swimming. Skinny dipping, if you're up for it, would be preferable. Go on a hike. Let's make out. Let's go talk to the Flock. Or I can help you in the labs. Or you can help me build stuff around the island. Or-"

"Fang-"

"You're missing the point, Max." He moved closer then, trying his hardest to force a smile for her. It wasn't anything to write home about, but he was trying. "I love you. I'm committed to you. I always have been. And if I have to pretend to like hanging out, then fine. I'll pretend."

"I don't want you to just pretend, Fang. I want-"

"Then I'll fake it till I make it, okay?" He reached out to cup her face then and she let him. "I just want you. I love you. And whatever that means is what it means. Okay?"

Max nodded slowly, though she wouldn't look at him. "I'm…sorry, Fang."

"Me too."

"I really shouldn't have said that stuff about-"

"It doesn't matter."

"But-"

"Come on." He kissed her before taking a step back. "You said something about me needing to bathe and I know just the person I want to do it with."

"Fang-"

Ignoring her, he just moved to lift her into his arms, cradling her almost. If she had resisted, it would have ruined everything.

She didn't.

"We're going to have to talk, you know, eventually. About all of this."

"Yeah, I know," Fang sighed, opening his wings and judging the space on the deck he'd need to take to the air with her in his arms. "Just not today."

Finally smiling back at him, Max said softly, "Just not today."

* * *

**Because I felt neglectful and I just really, really wanted to write about Max and Fang fighting. I don't get to do that anymore, really. **


End file.
